Egypt's Sisi ratifies electoral constituencies law

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday ratified a law finalising the electoral constituencies, his office said, paving the way for much-awaited parliamentary elections.
Electing a new parliament is a key step in a roadmap announced by the army after it ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, on July 3, 2013.
The new law divides the country into 237 constituencies for individual candidacy seats and another four for party list seats, the presidency said in a statement.
"The law guarantees a fair representation of voters... from all governorates in the people's assembly regardless of their population," presidential spokesman Alaa Yousef said in the statement.
The Supreme Electoral Commission had recently said the date for the parliamentary polls will be fixed after a law finalising the constituencies was issued.
In November, Sisi had told a visiting US business delegation that parliamentary elections will be held before the end of March 2015.
Sisi, then army chief, ousted Morsi and announced a political roadmap that envisaged adopting a new constitution, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.
While the new constitution was adopted in January 2014, the presidential election which Sisi won was held in May.
Egypt's first parliament after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was dissolved after a court ruling in June 2012.
Source: AFP